Pre-Roman improvements to agricultural production: Evidence from livestock husbandry in late prehistoric Italy

Abstract

Domestication of wild cattle, sheep, and pigs began a process of body size diminution. In most of Western Europe this process continued across prehistory and was not reversed until the Roman period. However, in Italy, an increase in livestock body size occurred during the Iron Age, earlier than the Western provinces. In order to better understand the nature and timing of this early increase in animal size, this paper presents a detailed regional study of taxonomic abundance and biometric data from zooarchaeological assemblages recovered from the Po and Venetian–Friulian Plains in northern Italy. Our results demonstrate a high level of regionality in the choice of species exploited, with husbandry systems focused on different domesticates, as well as regional differences in animal size. However, despite significant variation in species frequencies, settlement structure, and epigraphic tradition, all areas with sufficient data demonstrate similar significant changes in livestock body size. Cattle and sheep increased incrementally in size prior to the Roman conquest in all regions considered; surprisingly, pigs continued to decrease in size throughout later prehistory. The incremental pace and pan-regional character of the size change in cattle and sheep suggests an internally motivated phenomenon rather than herd replacement with a new larger population, as might follow colonisation or conquest. The divergence in size trends for bovids and suids suggests a noteworthy change in cattle and sheep herding practices during the Iron Age or final centuries of the Bronze Age, in contrast with greater continuity in pig management. Our analysis provides a thorough zooarchaeological synthesis for northern Italy and, for the first time, demonstrates that both cattle and sheep increased in size outside of Roman territory well before the conquest of this area. This study offers a basis for future chemical analyses (DNA, isotopes), which will further investigate the cause(s) of livestock size changes in northern Italy.

Fodder for Change: Animals, Urbanisation, and Socio-Economic Transformation in Protohistoric Italy

“…Rather than a universal, external catalyst (like climate change), livestock improvement in Italy must have been driven by new changes to animal management strategies. Although statistically significant increases in cattle size are visible across urban and non-urban communities (Trentacoste et al 2018), the distribution of the data suggests that urban centres had a key role in mediating access to larger, desirable animals. Using the Log Standard Index (LSI) technique (Meadow 1999) to compare cattle post-cranial measurements, differences emerge between northern Italian site types ( Figure 5).…”

“…Although there is evidence from France indicating an increase in cattle size from the second century BC (Frémondeau et al 2017;Duval 2018), in Italy this increase is visible centuries earlier (Riedel 1994;De Grossi Mazzorin 1995;Trentacoste et al 2018; De Grossi Mazzorin and Minniti 2019b). These trends were fully developed by the Archaic period in the mid-first millennium BC, although earlier incremental changes suggest development from as early as the Bronze to Iron Age transition (Trentacoste et al 2018; De Grossi Mazzorin and Minniti 2017; 2019b). In both northern and central Italy, cattle increased in size despite a wider trend toward diminution in other parts of Europe during the early Iron Age.…”

“…Since then, scholars have been able to refine regional variation and the chronological scale of trends in northern (e.g. Riedel 1994;Trentacoste 2016;Trentacoste et al 2018 andreferences therein), central (De Grossi Mazzorin andMinniti 2009;Minniti 2012a), and southern areas of the peninsula (de Grossi Mazzorin and Minniti 2019b), including the city of Rome itself (De Grossi Mazzorin and Minniti 2017). Amongst identified trends, three key patterns emerge over the first millennium BC: pigs became more abundant; cattle, sheep, and goats (but not pigs) increased in size; and the production of sheep/goat (which are difficult to distinguish in the archaeological record) shifted to emphasize secondary products (wool, and possibly milk) and young lamb.…”

Global distribution and evolution ofMycobacterium bovislineages

“…The economical flourishing was followed by a steep rise in agriculture and livestock capacity (Jongman, 2012). Archeological findings related to changes in cattle body size between Neolithic times and the Roman period (Meadow, 1988, 1989; Meadow and Zeder, 2004; Trentacoste et al, 2018) suggest the occurrence of modifications in cattle herding management in the Roman period, including improved feeding practices, probably aimed at increasing production capacity for draft, meat and/or milk (Kron, 2002). Reasons for breeding cattle varied considerably throughout the Roman territory and beyond due to culture traditions, diet preferences and climate conditions (Itan et al, 2009; Valenzuela-Lamas and Albarella, 2017).…”

“…Archeological evidence show that the domestication of cattle in neolithic times initiated a process of animal body size decrease (Meadow 1988, 1989; Meadow and Zeder 2004). Surprisingly, this trend was reversed during the end of the Iron Age and later intensified during the Roman period, as described by an incremental change in body size of cattle (Trentacoste et al 2018). These findings imply changes in cattle herding management, including improved feeding practices, probably aimed at increasing production capacity for draft, meat and/or milk (Kron 2002).…”